


Meant to be

by hunger_potter



Category: Lost
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-07-21
Packaged: 2019-03-13 14:12:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13572237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hunger_potter/pseuds/hunger_potter
Summary: Juliet detonated the bomb. But what they were told didn't happen.She woke up on a plane with a man calling for her. It wasn't James, but she knew who it was. She remembered everything, she remembered more than she could explain. Maybe it was just fate working it own mysteries.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Most of the characters aren't mine.

She ignored all the pain she felt through her body when she saw the bomb. All of that had been done so they could go back home. If the last thing she would do in her life was give him a chance to get out of that damn island, she would do it. She knew how much he loved her, and she loved him even more because of it. For those reasons, she found a rock and hit that bomb with all the strength left in her.  
"C'mon your son of a bitch”

She felt a vigorous pressure in her ears. Around her, everything turned white. An extremely strong light made her close her eyes. Would that be death? After all she had been through, she would die on that damn island? She drifted in exhaustion, and the last image that came into her mind was a Southerner, with bright emerald green eyes and a smile that showed through his dimples how much he loved her.

 

Juliet opened her eyes, feeling the air going through her body. As if to make sure she was breathing, she filled her lungs as much as she could and exhaled slowly. No image had become clear before her vision, but in the back of her mind she heard a voice calling out her name.

“Juliet" It was a man speaking. A man whose voice she knew very well, but it seemed to belong to a distant past. For the first time in a long time she felt scared, unprotected and alone. 

“Juliet” The man’s voice was becoming clearer. 

She blinked a few times trying to identify where she was. It wasn’t the island, she was sure of that. Would that be the place after life? But why was her hands hurting so much if she was dead? More than never, she felt alive. 

Juliet heard a bell ring and a light was turned on in front of her. It was the warning to tighten the seat belt. And then, everything made sense. 

She was on a plane, on her way to another city where she would have another meeting with future sponsors for her work. The day before, she was somewhere, having dinner with representatives of an Australian Company. Edmund, her husband, had promised it would be their last meeting that month. Another one of his lies. 

But wasn’t the day before when Jack, Kate and Daniel had left her house in Dharma Ville to find the physicist's mother? No, no, no, she was sure she was talking business during dinner, and Edmund didn’t stop hit on the ginger secretary. 

At the same time, the memory of her life in the Dharma Initiative felt so real. It was real. She was a hundred per cent sure of that. Deep in her heart she knew it wasn’t part of her imagination the life she shared with James. 

James. 

It was because of him that she detonated the hydrogen bomb. She reseted everything they had lived for the past three years, so he could be safe and far away from that damn island. Jack said they wouldn’t remember. Why couldn’t she take James’ face out of her mind? 

“Juliet, are you ok?” The same voice called her again, and for the first time she turned to face the man who was beside her. 

Juliet knew there was no way it could be James, but she couldn’t stop her disappointment when she faced Edmund. Indeed, they were coming back from a business trip… The meeting with the representative had been in Sydney, and they were on their way to…

She looked at the back of the chair in front of her, and took out the magazine that the airline made available for reading.

Oceanic. 

They were on their way to Los Angeles.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own the characters or a part of the dialogue which I took from the first episode of season 6.   
> I know the chapter is short, I'm sorry about that. I'm also sorry for all my English mistakes.   
> Hope you enjoy it.

James still could feel her hand slipping through his fingers. He could see the fear on her face, and her scream was echoing on his ears as she fell down the pit. His chest was heavy and breath was a hard task. 

During all his life Sawyer tried the better he could get away from people. They would all go away, leaving him, and there was no reason to keep them around. But with Juliet it has always been different. And now he felt his body empty and a feeling he hasn’t felt since he was eight years old. 

He took a deep breath, feeling the smell of burning in the air. He had survived another plane crash. The same plane crash, as far as he could remember. They had gone back in time, but his memories were still intact. Jack’s plan had fail. One more time. 

James wasn’t conscious about his actions, he just got up from the spot where he had awake few minutes before, and start walking. He watched the fear around him, heard the noise of the plane's fuselage, but did not concentrate on anything. He ignored the pain, the screams and the despair of other people.

He didn’t know what he was doing the only thing he was sure of was that he wasn’t on LAX. He was back on that damn island, on the same beach where it all began. And Juliet… Juliet was dead. 

Before he could tell, he grabbed Jack by the collar of his Armani shirt and punched him in the face. The doctor fell into the sand, and by his expression had not understood what was happening.

"You were wrong!" James howled with all the anger he felt inside him. “That's the damn Swan Hatch. Blown up just like we left it before we started jumpin through time.”Some people ran around them, but he did not care. If they wanted a show, that’s what they were going to get it. “You said we could stop it from ever being build that our plane would never crash on this island.” 

“Sawyer, stop!” It was Kate who came running out of the woods and trying to position herself between the two men. But once again, James stepped forward and hit Jack's jaw with his fist.

“This ain’t L.A.X. You blew us right back where we started. Except Juliet is dead. She is dead your son of a bitch because you were wrong.”   
James's voice was a mixture of pure anger with the deepest pain he had ever felt in his life. He did not mind the half-dozen eyes that stared at him without understanding what was happening. He did not care about Kate's desperate screams trying to stop him from attacking Jack. He did not care about anything else in this life. The only thing worth living was left behind in 1977, and he would never have it back.  
Sawyer felt someone holding him from behind, preventing him from reaching Jack for his next blow. It was Jin.

“Sawyer, calm down.” The Korean tried to make the other listen, but James was too angry for that. 

“He killed Juliet. He ruined all of our lives. He left half of his people behind…” James was shouting at Jack, pointing his finger at the doctor, because he was the one to blame for everything. However, a voice he knew very well shout out his name louder than all the noise and whispering coming from the survivors. 

“LA FLEUR.” It was Miles. James looked to his left to face the other man. All the words vanished from his mouth. “Something’s changed.” 

Jin’s grip on him got looser, and all Jame’s attention was on Miles. He was not supposed to be on that plane. 

“What… Whatta you doing here?” His voice still carry an anger that he couldn’t just let go. 

“I like beaches during summer time, don’t you?” 

“Miles.” Jin said seriously alerting that irony wasn’t the best choice. “Daniel is also here, Jim. Maybe…”

“Juliet was on the plane?” James asked trying to make sense out of that situation. The Korean just nodded his head. 

“Charlie is alive, Sawyer.” Jack said still breathing a little bit out of shape. The doctor mouth was bleeding, which he tried to cover with his right hand. 

“The bomb worked. Shannon and Boone are here too. Maybe, Juliet…”

"Do not you dare say her name, your son of a bitch." Anger grew within James at every word of Jack. His breathing was heavy, and he did not know what he was doing anymore. He wanted to scream, he wanted to kill Jack, he wanted to cry, and at the same time he did not want to do anything.

“James.” Miles said this time calmly. “I might have seen her. Before the plane crashed. I might have seen Juliet.”


	3. Chapter 3

James looked for Juliet everywhere. Each time he shouted her name - hoping she would magically appear in front of him, unharmed and walking as if the last hours of their life in 1977 had never happened - despair grew more and more within him. Sawyer noticed that some passengers stared at him as if they remembered everything he had done in the first few weeks of the accident. Others seemed more confused and terrified than before. But the only reason he watched each one of the people around him was because Juliet could be anywhere. Juliet could be one of them. 

After searching every perimeter of the beach, James unwittingly made his way to the jungle. The feeling he had was that a knife had pierced his chest, he had no more breath to shout her name, his brain no longer knew where he was going, and he knew he could not go any farther. Maybe Miles was wrong. If everything was happening as it had happened the first time, there was a chance Juliet was with the Others. But if that was true, would she remember of anything they have lived together for the past three years?

Exhausted physically and lost in a bunch of thoughts that would lead him to madness, James heard the soft sound of a twig breaking. After three years working on the Dharma Initiative, searching in the forest for any clue of Locke or anyone else, he knew very well the noise of someone trying to approach without making too much noise.

James froze where he was, he should think about some way to defend himself, but before he could do anything, Richard Alpert appeared behind some bushes. He remembered that in the midst of time travel, Juliet had said that Richard had always been on the Island. The two men stared at each other for two seconds, long enough for the southern to realize that the hostile boss remembered. He remembered every one of the negotiations they did during the seventies, he remembered the truce and its agreements. Back in DharmaVille, James respected Richard. The chief of security had learned over time that all the other wanted was to protect his people, and as far Alpert didn't screw up their life with the hippies, it was fine for him.

However, what caught James' attention shortly after the end of the third second was the fact that Richard carried something in his arms. Not something, someone. And that someone, James would recognize anywhere in the world.

Juliet was carried by Richard like a rag doll, too weak to have control over any member of her body. Though he could not see the woman's face, James knew she was unconscious and the first doubt that crossed his mind terrified him.

"Sh ..." he tried to form a phrase, but the words seemed to sink in his throat. "Is she ...?" He tried again, but was betrayed by his own voice.

"Alive?" Richard stared at him with full attention, but James's eyes did not leave the figure of the blonde in front of him. “Yes. She’s alive and in a lot of pain." The coolness on the other man's voice pissed James off.

"Then do something! You can not just let her die! DO SOMETHING! "James no longer knew why he was screaming. He was furious and tired and scared and looking for answers that seemed like no one else could give. What was Richard thinking? That he would be all right to sit and watch Juliet suffer?

"She won't die, James." The man's voice was calm, but not enough to calm the other down. "But I can't do anything to make it better."

Alpert gave three steps forward and handed Juliet to James. Though she was unconscious, the woman soon came to fit in his arms in a way that only she could. Facing her pale face made a tear trickle down his face. I'm so sorry, babe. James heart tightened on his chest. He couldn’t let her stay like that. It had to be something he could do.   
Realizing that Richard was moving away, James asked.

"Does she remember?" He needed to know. Before she died, Juliet said she would rather never met him than losing him. But he was right where he wanted to be, by her side and she wouldn’t lose him. God no, he couldn’t leave that woman, never. 

“That's why I can’t help her.”

 

James walked back to the beach in ecstasy. There were many doubts, no answers, and a single certainty: Juliet was alive. And that was enough.

His return to the place where people began to build a new camp attracted curious, confused stares. Around him he realized that everything looked exactly the same as the first time it had happened, the wreckage of the plane, the despair of passengers, insecurity, and fear. Night was beginning to come, and he knew Juliet needed rest. 

Without thinking twice, he went as far as he could from where the survivors gathered and laid Juliet on the floor. He did not want to be the center of gossip and knew that privacy would only do them good.

Watching the woman, James noticed that her face was all bruised with cuts that still bleed as well as the rest of her body. Her clothing, the one she had worn on the last day of the Dharma Initiative, was torn, dirty, and wet. For some reason he could not explain, he believed Richard's words and knew that Juliet wasn't going to die. However, she was in pain, and he would do whatever was necessary to take care of her and protect her.

"Jim." James looked away from Juliet and found Jin and Sun carrying some items in their hands. "How is she?" The Korean asked worriedly.

"Alive." James let out the air he did not even know he was holding. "I need to clean her up." There was blood everywhere, and the sight of it reminded him of everything that was happening.

"We got you some water.”Sun said staring at them, she wasn’t used to that, but she knew they were important to Jin, so she would help them. "I will look for some cloths."

"Yeah" James nodded his head. "Thanks."

"I will help you with the tent. You sure want to be here? "Jin looked around, Sawyer had chosen the most distant spot possible. "We could all be neighbors again, like old times."

James gave him a little smirk, he knew what the Korean was trying to do, but he just couldn’t be close to some many people on that moment. Especially because most of those people hated him and hated Juliet. 

“Thanks, Jin. We fine here. "

 

The night took over the sky too quickly, without James noticing. As soon as he and Jin had finished improvising a tent with some sticks and a piece of canvas, James wiped what he could from the blood on Juliet's face with a torn shirt that Sun had found. The Koreans didn't insist on staying for long, Jin knew the LaFleurs well enough to know when to leave them alone.

Inside the small makeshift tent, James stared at the blond woman who had not yet awakened. From time to time, he checked her breathing, more to calm his nerves than anything else.

"Sawyer?" A female voice called him from outside the tent.

"No one's home," he snapped.

"Please." It was Kate's voice, and despite everything that had happened, since Juliet had been pulled by the chains - the mere thought of that scene made his stomach wrap - the brunette had only tried to help.

Just as James put his head out of the tent, he regretted it.

"What's he doing here?" Jack was standing next to Kate, and the presence of the doctor annoyed him.

“He just want to help." Kate said calmly.

"We do not need help." James snapped.

"Sawyer, I need to examine her .." Jack tried to explain himself.

"You're not gonna touch damn finger on her, doc."

"I just want to see if she's hurt."

"She is." James stared at Jack with all the rage he felt, but kept his arms folded in front of him tightly, to keep himself from punching him in the face of that imbecile. "She is hurt because of what you did. But I will take care of her. The same way I've been doing for the last three years. "James's voice betrayed his safety a little, allowing Kate for the first time to realize the magnitude of the feeling behind those simple words. "We do not need your help, Jack. We do not need you. “

 

On the other side of the camp, Sayid watched the sea silently trying to understand everything that had happened.

"Do you think everything is going to happen exactly the same?" Hugo asked as he sited beside the other man.

"Nothing's gonna be the same. "I answered without bothering to take his eyes off the horizon.

"How do you know?"

"There's a man here who was not on the first crash."

"Dude, a man like Ethan?"

"No. He was a passenger this time, I checked. And he says he is looking for his wife." Sayid looked at a confused Hurley. "He showed me a picture of her. He is looking for Juliet. "


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm truly sorry it took me longer than I expected to post this one. But hey, this chapter is longer than usual, that's a good thing, right? Hope you all enjoy it.

It was the longest night of Sawyer’s life. He laid down besides Juliet, watching every movement of her breathing. By the time dawn had come, James could swear something had change on the woman’s appearance. The wounds on her skin were healing, starting to leave a few scars on its place. For one moment, he thought about the island, about how people heal faster there and he was truly thankful for that. But then, he just felt a little bit stupid. Sawyer never believed on the island “super powers”, maybe Juliet’s wounds weren’t as bad as they looked. Or maybe it was just his mind tricking him after so many hours without sleep...

Before James could think anything further, he noticed Juliet stir quietly. He looked at her with all attention he got, noticing every single movement on her face. 

“Hi” her voice was the most beautiful sound he ever heard. She opened her eyes quickly but closed them again. 

“Hey yourself” There were so many things he wanted to say, but he hold himself. She needed her space, she needed her own time. 

Juliet opened her eyes again, this time it was clear the confusion on them. “Where are we?” 

James took a few strands of hair out of her face to make her vision clearer. He was a little scared, the last thing he wanted was to hurt Juliet, but for the first time since he had truly met her she seemed small and fragile, and he didn't want to break her (no more than he already had done). 

“How do you feel about camping?” He asked with a little smirk. What else could he had said to her? 

“Beach camping?” Her voice was weak, and her expression looked exactly the same as when she was trying to understand a new book with her brows frowned. 

“Yeah”

“Is this the vocations you promise me?” She questioned seriously but soon a smile took over her face. 

“If that’s how you wanna call it...’’ He gave her a little smile of his own. “How you feeling?” He asked his time concerned. Even though the wounds on her face were closing up, he had never seen her more tired or pale as she was on that moment. She still looked beautiful though, but for him she always looked beautiful. 

“Hungry” 

“Good thing I can solve all your problems right here, blondie.” James grabbed the two airplane meals that Hugo had brought them the night before that were on the corner of the tent and a water bottle. “You got the best room service on this island.” He helped her to sit trying not to be too worried about her pain expression. “And the best part is that is all exclusive for you.” Juliet smiled tenderly and on that moment, James was sure they would be okay. 

 

* * *

 

_Flashback 1974_

 

_“Can you please tell me why the hell is LaFleur cooking?” Miles asked as he entered the living room._

_They had been living in DharmaVille for a month now, and James, Jin, Juliet and Miles were sharing a two bedroom house._

_“I didn’t feel like cooking today and Jin is working a night shift.” Juliet answered without taking her eyes off the book she was reading._

_“And you are ok with this? He will throw the kitchen on fire in one-second.”_

_“James’s been cooking for half hour and no fire so far. Guess we are all good, Miles.” Her voice was calm and steady, as usually was._

_“Yeah, right. You won’t say, ‘we are all good' once we are having burnt toast for dinner.”_

_Juliet closed the book slowly and looked fiercely at Miles. The man was sitting on the couch opposite to her. When blue eyes met his, he froze in place._ Man, she knew how to scare someone, _he thought to himself._

_“If you don’t trust James to cook us dinner, you should volunteer yourself for the job next time.” Miles opened his mouth to protest, but closed quickly. When Juliet was talking so calm and with that glance on her face, he knew it was better to keep his mouth shout. “Besides" the blonde continued, “If you forgot a month ago we were surviving in the basis of mangoes and water. James can burn the whole kitchen down, as long as he doesn't put any mangoes on my plate, I will eat gladly.”_

_“Well, thanks for trusting me, sweetheart.” James stated a little bit ironically as he entered the living room. He had the apron tight around his hips and a dish towel hanging on his left shoulder. He had his dimple-smile full on his face and he was enjoying himself. "Dinner is ready. That is, if you two feel brave enough to try it. I promise it’s no mangoes.”_

 

_James meatballs weren’t bad at all that night, but neither of them ate mangoes for the following three years._

 

* * *

 

James didn’t understand then why Juliet had asked for mangoes that afternoon. He wasn’t going to question her too much about it. She had been going on and off sleep for the past few hours, but he finally could see some real healing on her wounds. 

He left their tent and walked through the jungle without paying much attention to his surrounding. He didn’t want too know who was around, or what they were doing. Nothing else mattered to him, just Juliet. 

“Hey, LaFleur.” He heard a familiar voice calling. It was Miles. “Feeling adventurous today?” Miles asked glancing to the trees behind them. 

“Absolutely. Old habits die hard. Thought I could search a few grids before the night fall.” 

“You do know that what we were looking for is right there, right?” He pointed to where most of the survivors were camping. 

“Yeah, I do. I’m searching for mangoes now, Enos. New targets, new challenges.”

“Suit yourself. Hey, is Juliet awake?” Miles said the last part as if he didn’t care about the answer much. 

“She is. Why?”

“Do you think… Can I… Would she mind…”

“Do you wanna talk to her?” Miles only nodded without looking to James’ face “Go ahead. She will like that.”

“Thanks.” Miles said and turned around without making much eye contact. 

For the first time, James realized that maybe he wasn’t the only one who felt Juliet almost… He couldn’t finish that sentence. But even though he was the one who suffer the most, Miles and Jin were his friends. More than friends, they were almost like a family to them. 

James made a mental note to talk to Jin as well later that day, and went back for his searching. However, before he could go any further into the jungle, another familiar voice with a different accent echoed in his ears. 

“Someone's looking for her.” Sayid had approached him quietly and was standing now a few feets aways from where James was. Sayid was talking about Juliet of course, who else could be “her”? But James wasn’t concerned about whatever the other man had to say. 

“Oh yeah, who?” James asked in a mocking tone. 

“Her husband.” Sayid said the sentence too sure of himself. James had to concentrate not to laugh. That sentence was too ridiculous, even for Sayid. 

“Whatever you say, buddy.”

“Don't you think is strange?” Sayid was now following him. Questioning him as if he had any rights to know about his and Juliet’s lives. “Why she is here with us instead of…”

“You better listen to this carefully, cuz I’m only sayin once, Mohammed” James turned around to face the man a little bit too abruptly . “You already screw up our lives once, I ain’t letting you do it again."

James was so close to hit the guy on the face, andif what the man said next hadn’t freeze him in place, he probably would had. 

“His name is Edmund. He is looking for Juliet and sooner or later he is going to find her.” Sayid didn’t sound amicable. Was this a threat? “After all, we are on an island.”

Whatever happened, happened, wasn’t happening anymore. Things were changing, and who knew if it would be for the best? 

 

* * *

 

“Can I come in?”  Miles  asked a little bit shy. He didn’t want to intrude, he knew Juliet liked to be on her own when she was not feeling herself, but that time was different. 

“Sure” the blonde tried to give him a smile. 

“LaFleur is outside getting some mangoes.” 

“Yeah, I might had wake up feeling like eating mangoes today.” She said shyly. Miles pretended to be chocked. “Don't look at me like that. They are great, and we already spent three years without eating them. It’s about time for us to remember old habits.” Miles chuckled at her answer. Maybe she was feeling better than she looked,  he  thought. 

“Locke is here.” The words jumped out of his mouth before he could stop it. He wasn’t sure what he was doing. Maybe he did, but well… “It’s kind of weird that we waited for him to be back for three years, and now...” 

“ Miles ” Juliet said tenderly. The tone of her voice made him look at her eyes properly for the first time since they left the Dharma Iniative. He remembered when they first arrived there, how much those same blue eyes scared him to death. And now they were just... Juliet’s eyes. Sometimes she could still send you a look that would probably kill someone, but it was just a motherly look, in a weird way, of course. He knew that now. “You can tell me why you are here.” And there it was, the motherly look on her eyes. 

For three years  Miles , Jin, James and Juliet had been more than friends, they were family. And that’s why he knew he could be honest with her. 

Since the bomb exploded and they were send back to 2004,  Miles  had thought a lot about what being a family meant. He realized that Hugo, Jack, Kate, Sun and Sayid didn’t have what those who were left behind did. And he considered himself lucky for it. He was lucky for having a family, even if they were stuck in the seventies for a very long time. And he wanted to tell Juliet that. 

“Remember that day, the second time the sub came to the island? After you finished work, you stopped at Amys and the two of you decided to have a girls night.”  Miles  was playing with his hands, kind of distracted trying the harder he could not to look at Juliet. “When me Jin and Jim came back home you weren’t there and we couldn’t find you anywhere. It took as a few hours to find you and Amy drunk at the docks taking about horoscopes.” The memory made both of them smile. “I guess you remember how LaFleur freaked out thinking that you could have left on that sub without saying a word.” He looked at Juliet then, to see if she was following his story. “But the only thing I said was...”

“'Thank God Juliet is back, who would cook our Friday meals if she was gone?'” Juliet said the exactly words  Miles  had said three years ago. 

“Yeah, that’s what I said.”  Miles  looked away again. It wasn’t easy for him to talk about his feelings. Plane crashes, time travel, meeting your dead dad makes your heart change a little. “It wasn’t what I meant though. It was the first time I had something nice in my life. I didn’t want to lose that. I don’t want to lose it, so you better never fall down a pit again, Juliet, or I will never forgive you.” 

With that said,  Miles  left her tent without looking back. He really suck talking about his feelings. But one thing was sure: he felt better after getting out of his system. 

 

* * *

 

The sea was agitated. The waves were getting bigger and bigger as time passed. The island was furious, he knew that. After so many years on that place, he knew that something was wrong. That was not how it was meant to be. Whatever had happened before the bomb was detonated wasn’t meant to happen. 

“They remember” Richard said without taking his eyes off the horizon. “They remember everything.” He was feeling.... bad about the survivors. He couldn’t let the guilt take over his thoughts. Not again. After so many decades working for Jacob and the Island what had changed? “If you don't tell them what is happening they will loose their minds.”

“They don't need to know!” 

Richard waited in silence as Jacob faced the ocean ahead of them. He tried to read the other mans face but there was something on his expression that had never been seen before: confusion. The leader looked differently, not only confused but it was almost like he was scared about what to do next. “I know what I am doing.” Jacob said louder this time, facing Alpert seriously. “Im still in charge” 

However, those green eyes that once had been so wise, didn't tell Alpert nothing anymore. He was tired of obeying every word the leader said without an explanation and without measuring the consequences. Jacob was no god and his powers above the island were not enough anymore. 

“Do the same thing twice expecting different results is stupid” the words jumped out of his mouth with no regrets of being said. New times had finally come, and it had been a while since Richard had decided to work for himself only. 

Jacob studied the other man face carefully. He knew that Alpert wouldn’t do what he was told anymore. He needed some time to think. Alone. Therefore, he nodded his head agreeing with the other. 

“Let them know only enough so they wont do anything stupid.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for don't give up on me. I'm still working on this fic slowly, but I only have a couple of ideas ready. So, if you have any prompts or if you want to read something, just let me know!


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